Oddments
by TipsyRaconteur
Summary: A collection of drabbles that have previously been posted on Tumblr. Kakasaku, possible other future pairings.
1. Stalking Pretty Ladies In Trees

Hi there! This is where I'm going to post all of my drabbles from Tumblr that didn't become longer stories. Currently everything is T-rated and features KakaSaku, but both rating and pairing are subject to change. Enjoy! (You can also follow me on tumblr under tipsyraconteur!)

Prompt: "I want some Kakasaku fluff with the dialogue prompt of 'Do you always stalk pretty ladies in the trees?'"

Pairing: KakaSaku

Rating: T

0O0

Sakura let out a shaky sigh as she leaned her back against the tree trunk, hot tears spilling from her eyes no matter how she tried to blink them back. Losing a patient was hard, and no matter how long she worked as a medic, it never got any easier to feel someone's life slipping through her hands. As soon as she could, she'd washed the blood off her hands and left the hospital, running far enough into the training grounds until she felt like she could breathe again. But it didn't make the feeling of helplessness, of being unable to fix someone, go away.

Just as fresh tears started to come, she felt something soft brush her cheek. Opening her eyes, she looked down to see a single cherry blossom petal lying on the ground where it had fallen. In a moment, another floated down and settled by her foot, followed by another. Smiling faintly, she tipped her head back and called up into the branches above, "This isn't a cherry blossom tree, you know."

There was a long, silent pause, wherein a few more petals floated down. And then his voice came: "No. But I've been _following_ you since the cherry blossom tree."

Sakura reached out to catch one of the petals in her palm before archly responding, "Do you always stalk pretty ladies in the trees?"

There was another pause, and this time there was a teasing tinge to his voice when he responded. "Who says you're a pretty lady?"

It took less than a moment for Sakura to turn and swing her chakra-laced fist into the trunk of the tree, and then, after a few crashing sounds, Kakashi landed on the ground with a thud, his Hokage robe fluttering around him.

Knowing he was more than skilled enough to land on his feet, even when surprised, Sakura giggled, and then coughed, wiping the smile from her face. Instead, she glared at him. "That wasn't funny."

Wincing from where he lay on his back, Kakashi cleared his throat and then replied, "It was _kind_ of funny."

"Hm," Sakura replied, unconvinced. "I guess people really do lose their sense of humor when they get old."

She could actually _hear_ him pouting when he responded, "Now you're just being mean." She soon learned the mistake of standing too close to him when he hooked a foot around her ankle and yanked it out from beneath her, sending her toppling down toward him. He, of course, caught her perfectly. The jerk.

Somewhat winded, Sakura panted, "Aren't you supposed to be running a village right now?" In spite of her words, she curled closer to him, letting him hold her to his chest.

He reached a gloved hand up and swept the pad of his thumb over the tracks her tears had left. "Some things are more important."

Letting out a shuddering sigh as she felt the tears begin to well up again, Sakura lay her head on his chest. After a few wet sniffles that she tried and failed to contain, she felt herself begin to relax to the sound of his heartbeat.

"Kakashi?"

"Sakura?"

"I love you."

"Is it because I stalk you through trees?"

"…Something like that."


	2. Cake or Death

Prompt: "Any fanfic where team 7 celebrates old man kakashi's birthday with his next gen grand kids? And maybe guy and iruka and yamato too? Pretty please?" from anon on Tumblr

Pairing: KakaSaku

Rating: T

*Tip of the hat to Eddie Izzard for the title.

0O0

The backyard was crawling with children. It wasn't an ideal escape route, but it was the one that had presented itself, and Kakashi was ready to take advantage of that fact. He waited for the herd of children—mostly the grandkids of his friends, though there were a few silver heads in the mix—to become distracted on the far side of the yard, and then he made his move.

Kakashi winced as he tried to move silently through the yard and his knees popped in protest. Scowling beneath his mask, he resumed his less-than-stealthy stalking toward the back gate, when a familiar voice made him freeze in his tracks.

"Kakashi-sensei, where are you going?"

Sighing, Kakashi turned and took in the sight of his former student—and current Hokage—grinning at him with crossed arms. Sasuke stood behind him attempting to appear aloof, but unable to hide his smirk at Kakashi's guilty expression.

"I was just getting some air," Kakashi said in what he hoped was a breezy tone.

Naruto gave him a knowing look. "Seventy-five years old, and you still can't lie for shit."

"Sakura is going to kill you if you don't eat that cake," Sasuke added, the " _as if I care_ " part of his sentence unspoken and yet extraordinarily clear.

"She's been talking about making it for weeks," Naruto added, his grin returning. "It has flowers."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "Frosting flowers, or real flowers?"

"Oh," Naruto said casually, gaze sliding to the side, "A little from column A, a little from column B."

"Shit," Kakashi muttered under his breath. The last time he'd been anywhere near the kitchen, the smell of burning cake had been undeniable. And now there were decorations? Things were getting worse by the minute.

Kakashi didn't miss the fact that Naruto and Sasuke had moved to flank him while he was having his disastrous cake thoughts. Sakura had obviously dispatched them to make sure he didn't go anywhere. He scowled. "None of you have any respect for me."

"Not even a little," Sasuke deadpanned.

Naruto snickered. "Give up, Kakashi-sensei. You're not going anywhere."

Kakashi sighed and held up his gloved hands. "Fine. I know when I'm beaten." Stepping back toward the house, he paused to sinisterly add, "But I won't forget this." He was pleased to see his two erstwhile students at least had the grace to look unsettled as he disappeared into the house.

As he let his eyes adjust to the change in light, Kakashi smirked to himself. As if he was going to let Sasuke and Naruto dissuade him from his goal. There were other escape routes—you didn't stay married to Sakura for as long as he had and not learn more than one way to escape her ire.

A new path in mind, Kakashi began to move toward the side door, only to hear the distinct sound of his adult children talking to their mother in the kitchen. It sounded like they could come out at any minute, so he vetoed that route. That left the front door.

The front door that was in the same direction as a certain dramatic, booming, _youthful_ voice. Kakashi took a deep breath and then let it out in a world-weary sigh before striding forward.

"Eternal rival!" Gai looked up from where he sat beside Iruka, who had the rosy flush of someone who'd enjoyed their sake that evening. Across from them both sat an amused-looking Yamato, who appeared to be the only sober one in the room.

"Where are you going?" Gai continued with a suspicious look as he saw Kakashi's hand rest on the doorknob.

"Sakura's going to kill you if you don't eat her cake," Yamato intoned.

Iruka piped up. "That cake sounds like it's going to be really... something. I heard her say something about a surprise filling." He grinned as Kakashi quietly groaned.

Narrowing his eyes, Kakashi glared at Iruka, and then spoke up. "Gai, have you heard that Iruka can balance a sake cup on his nose for five whole minutes? I hear he holds the village record."

Gai's face lit up. "A challenge!"

As Gai began to balance his cup on his face while Iruka protested and Yamato sighed, Kakashi sidled toward the front door. He just barely heard Yamato repeat "she'll _kill_ you, man" before he slid out the door, shutting it quickly behind him.

As the front door closed behind him, Kakashi sighed, his shoulders falling into their usual slouch. He strode forward, toward the sweet taste of freedom, when a tiny hand shot out from the bush beside the door and grabbed ahold of his pant leg.

Kakashi bit back a curse. Sakura wasn't playing fair.

Crouching, Kakashi peered into the bush and saw sleepy grey eyes—so much like his own—staring back at him. "Did your obaachan send you to bring me back?" he asked, smiling.

His youngest granddaughter, who wore a smaller version of his mask, nodded her pink head, and the fiercely determined look she gave him made him melt. It wasn't fair. Sakura knew she was his favorite. Especially when she was wearing the mask.

"Okay, let's go," Kakashi sighed in defeat, opening his arms. Misaki pushed her way out of the bush and threw her arms around his neck, and he scooped her up. "But you're going to have to eat some cake, too," he said with a dramatic pout, and she giggled and vehemently shook her head as he walked them around to the side entrance by the kitchen.

When he entered the kitchen, granddaughter in tow, Sakura was waiting for him, along with the ugliest birthday cake he'd ever seen. But her green eyes were sparkling in that way that still made his stomach tighten, and the smile on her face was the one she saved just for him.

"Kakashi!" she exclaimed, beaming. "Are you ready for your cake?"

And, because he always knew he'd end up here, because he loved his wife no matter how horrible her cooking was, he smiled.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."


	3. If I Die

A/N: This was the result of an anonymous ask on Tumblr, requesting KakaSaku with the line "Do you love Sasuke now?" I'm pretty sure anon was hoping for some angst, but this is what they got. XD

0O0

"If I die, are you going to go back to Sasuke?" Kakashi's voice was froggy and thick with mucus, very unlike the usual smooth baritone that made Sakura go weak in the knees.

Sakura cleared a few used tissues from the bed before sitting beside his prone form. He'd been sick since the day before, but he hadn't really spiked a fever until this morning, and it was making him a little... loopy. Laying a cool hand on his burning forehead, she soothingly replied, "You have a cold, Kakashi. You're not going to die."

"You didn't say no," he countered in a pouty, betrayed voice, even as his eyes fluttered shut and he leaned into her touch.

She fought the urge to laugh. Sakura had never known Kakashi to be the jealous type, and he'd never acted like he was threatened by Sasuke before. It was kind of cute. "I'm not going to go back to him."

"You used to love Sasuke."

"I did."

"Do you love Sasuke now?" He hadn't opened his eyes again, and his voice was starting to get drowsy.

"Not the way I love you." Sakura smiled fondly as she reached down to tuck the blanket more firmly around him. Once the aspirin she'd given him broke his fever, he was probably going to get cold. "You're not going to remember any of this, are you?"

"I would never forget you," he mumbled.

If he hadn't been such a walking biohazard, she'd have kissed him right then and there. Instead she just drank him in-even with a red nose, flushed cheeks, and chapped lips, he was still the most handsome man she'd ever seen. "I love you, Kaka—"

Sakura's declaration was broken by the sound of a loud, congested snore that completely ruined her romantic thoughts. Trust Kakashi to fall asleep at the most inopportune time.

Laughing quietly, so as not to disturb him, she leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead. By tomorrow, her husband would be back to his usual self, and she would enjoy teasing him mercilessly about his 'deathbed' insecurities.

Sakura lightly stroked his mussed silver hair before standing. It would be a good idea to get started on some soup now so he would have something warm to eat when he woke up. Looking down at him, she smiled.

"Good night, you big baby."


	4. Pillow Fort

Hi folks! To celebrate joining pillowfort, here's a little drabble! Dedicated to the lovely ohayohimawari, without whom I would not have joined.

Pairing: KakaSaku

Rating: T

* * *

"You can't avoid me this time." Sakura's voice hung accusingly in the air of the Hokage's office as she faced her husband from across his desk. The stare she fixed him with was a beady one as she continued, "Shikamaru said you have a free hour, and you're going to listen to my budget proposal."

Kakashi lifted his arm to scratch at the back of his neck, his Hokage robe falling down his arm with the motion. His brow furrowed sheepishly. "I would never avoid you," he said unconvincingly. Ignoring her disbelieving snort, he capitulated, standing and asking, "Why don't we sit somewhere more comfortable?"

He led her to an adjoining room that was set up for meetings such as this one. It consisted of a large table and chairs, as well as a seating area with two couches with a table between them. Moving toward the seating area, he slouched onto one of the couches, and Sakura sat on the one across from him, putting the stack of papers she held on the table.

"I'll get right to the point." Sakura began to lay out several sheaves of paper. "We can't put it off any longer. The hospital doesn't have enough room to take care of its patients. You need to approve a new budget that will allow us to build another wing."

"Interesting," Kakashi said with a hum as he glanced briefly at the papers before him before looking back up at her. "Oh, could you pass me that pillow? And how much are we talking?"

Distracted by his second question, Sakura merely passed him the pillow as she answered, "That's part of the problem. It's going to be kind of expensive..."

He gave another thoughtful hum but didn't answer immediately. When he gestured in the direction of another pillow, she handed it to him automatically before grabbing one of the papers. She scanned the paper, only noticing peripherally as he began to uproot the couch cushions on either side of him.

"I have some ideas about how we can raise the money." Sakura pointed toward one of the pages that detailed her proposal, but she was unable to focus as she frowned slightly at him and asked, "What are you doing?"

Kakashi waved her question away and put one cushion on its side to his left before moving to the one on his right. "You don't have a lot of time, right? Tell me your ideas."

Somewhat used to ignoring her husband's eccentricities, Sakura snapped her attention back to the subject of the hospital. As she began to shuffle through her papers, she rambled about her proposal. She was surprised that Kakashi was being so agreeable, and she hoped it would help her when she got to her actual request—the request that she knew he was going to hate. Burying herself in the papers, she rattled through three pages of numbers before she finally got to her point. "So, I think a fundraiser could cover most of the expenses, as long as the Hokage is there to convince people to donate..."

Sakura trailed off as she raised her eyes back to him and took in what he was doing. He had cushions and pillows all around him, stacked on their ends and then on top of each other until he'd built walls on all sides. She blinked.

As she opened her mouth to speak, Kakashi beat her to it. "Nope. I hate those events. Find some other way." And, with that said, he retreated into his little box like a turtle pulling into its shell, using the last cushion to cover the hole on top.

"Kakashi!" Sakura exclaimed, flabbergasted. She got nothing but silence in response, and snapped, "Don't act like you're not in there when you _know_ I just saw you get inside!"

There was a pause, and then a muffled, "I'm _not_ in here."

"You are such a child!" Standing, she stomped over to him and yanked the top cushion off, glaring down at him. "You are going to talk to me about—"

Kakashi's gloved hand darted out and grabbed her by the forearm, yanking her toward him so that they both collapsed into a pile of cushions and limbs. She squealed, flailing slightly but unable to stop him from pinning her beneath him. His eyes flashed with an amused smile as he looked down at her and said, "Oh hey, look, my Sakura trap is working."

"You're an idiot," she retorted, scowling at him and telling herself that she did _not_ find his crinkly eyes to be charming.

"I don't like fundraisers," he replied in a pouty voice.

Sakura struggled slightly—and fruitlessly—beneath him as she responded with exasperation. "That doesn't mean you can hide in some sort of cushion house—"

"It's a pillow fort," Kakashi argued in a slightly offended voice, as if she should have known that. He obviously wasn't that offended, though, as he dipped his head and began to nibble at her neck through his mask.

She gasped a little in spite of herself at the sensation. "Kakashi, you are not distracting me from this." However, when her hands found his shoulders, she didn't shove him off of her, gripping him tightly as he nuzzled into a particularly sensitive spot that made her shiver.

Grazing her with his teeth through the fabric of his mask, he offered, "I'll talk to Shikamaru about getting Naruto to do the fundraiser. He's a war hero, and he needs to practice diplomacy, anyway."

She probably should have worried about her careful plans being placed in Naruto's dubious care, but her hands had already found her way down to his ass without meaning to. He rumbled his approval as she responded, "I suppose that could work."

As one of his hands slid down to grip her thigh and tug it up around his hip, he pulled his head back to look at her as he asked, "How much time do you have?"

Sakura didn't know how he always managed to do this—no matter how stressed out she was, no matter how busy, he found ways to distract her. Licking her lips, she reached up and pulled his mask down beneath his chin, revealing his handsome smile. "Long enough," she murmured, and pulled him down for a kiss.


	5. The Intruder

Hi folks! Here's a little KakaMei drabble I did for the 2019 KakaMei Event on Tumblr, because I just can't get enough of Kakashi using his dogs to charm people. It's a modern university AU. If this is your first time reading this pairing, I highly suggest you check out OhayoHimawari's profile, because she is the queen of this ship!

This is unbeta'd, so any mistakes are mine. Sorry if you received multiple notices for this, I was having a hard time getting the line breaks right.

0O0

The first day that the dog walked into her studio, Mei thought she was going to lose it.

It was one of the days Konoha University had given her for grades and planning, but she'd gotten enough done that it had given her time to work on a few pieces in her studio. She had just laid a new charcoal drawing on the ground near the open door and gone to get her fixative spray, when she turned around to find a pug sitting beside her and looking up at her with a doggy grin, little charcoal footprints leading away from the art he'd so clearly stepped on.

Mei had picked up the dog—who wore a Konoha U bandana—and angrily marched out of her studio, demanding an explanation from any and every student she saw. Finally, one student said, "Oh, that's Hatake-sensei's dog. He's in the English department."

When Mei had entered the English department, still angry, she marched right up to the office whose door had a garish "I HEART DOGS" sticker on it. The man inside had a wild shock of silver hair and a scar over one eye. His grey eyes were amused behind his glasses as he took in the sight of her holding the pug at arm's length.

"Oh, good, you found Pakkun," he said pleasantly.

"Is this your dog?" Mei demanded. "Are you Hatake?"

"That's Pakkun," he replied. "He's really more of his own dog. I'm Kakashi." He extended a hand in greeting. "You're Terumi Mei, right? One of the art professors?"

Mei ignored the questions and shoved the dog in his direction. "He ran over a piece that I was just about to spray! There are charcoal footprints everywhere!"

As Kakashi took the dog, he held up one of his paws, looking at the black pads. "Okay, but, look at how cute his little paws are."

"Ugh!" was all Mei had to say in reply, spinning on her heel and marching back out of the office.

"It was nice to meet you!" she heard him call behind her.

0O0

On her next planning day, she had just finished her last batch of student papers when Pakkun insouciantly trotted into her studio again, looking at her and making a little whining noise. She told herself that it was _not_ cute. Once again, she scooped the dog up and marched over to the English department, directly to Kakashi's open door.

"Ah, hello there," Kakashi said with a warm smile as she stood in front of his desk.

"Your dog was in my studio again," Mei said through clenched teeth.

"He must like you," he replied, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

"You know, this is my only planning day out of the week, and I really don't have time to keep bringing your dog back," Mei complained in exasperation. "It might help if you would keep your door closed."

"That's certainly an idea," Kakashi mused noncommittally, abruptly changing the subject as he gestured to the coffee maker on the table behind his desk. "Say, would you like a cup of coffee?"

"I drink tea," Mei replied waspishly, because he was _not_ charming, damn it. She sat the pug on his desk in front of him, and then walked back out, ignoring his quiet chuckle.

0O0

"This has got to stop!" Mei growled as she strode into Kakashi's office on the third week that his dog had entered her studio.

"Oh, hello!" Kakashi greeted her in that same pleasant voice he'd used the other two times she'd barged into his office. Reaching in a bag that stood on the table behind him—a bag that sat next to a shiny new electric teakettle—he pulled out a box of fruity tea and shook it slightly in her direction. "Tea?"

"I hate fruity teas," she snapped. "I'm talking about your dog!"

"Hm," Kakashi replied, taking the bag into his hands, peering into it, and then rummaging around within it. After a moment he set boxes of Earl Grey tea, green tea, and herbal tea on his desk. He looked up at her, his eyes twinkling. "Any of these work?"

Mei blinked at him for a moment, and then responded, "…Did you go out and buy all of this just because I said I like tea?"

"Of course not," he said breezily, and then after a moment, "I told my students to bring it in for extra credit." The smile he gave her was lazy and more handsome than necessary.

Realizing she was still holding Pakkun, Mei placed him on the ground and then straightened, putting her hands on her hips. Things were starting to fall into place now, and she looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Have you been sending your dog to my studio on purpose?"

For once, Kakashi had the grace to look a little sheepish. "What? No. What? You're suggesting I came in on the weekends and meticulously trained my dog to go to the art department, to your studio, to bug you during your planning hours, just so you would have to bring him here and I would get a chance to talk to you? That's ridiculous."

He was giving her the kind of winning smile that men get when they're really hoping you'll buy their bullshit. Pakkun looked up at her from the floor and uttered a quiet "woof".

Mei looked from Kakashi to Pakkun, and then back at Kakashi again. When he just continued to smile at her, she finally sank into the chair in front of his desk. Damn it, he _was_ charming. "I like Earl Grey."

"Excellent!" he said cheerfully. Reaching behind him for the kettle and a mug, he asked, "Do you take sugar?"

His enthusiasm was infectious, and in spite of herself, Mei found herself smiling back at him.

"Lots."


	6. The Chase

Hi folks! I'm still working on a monster WIP (that will never be finished ;_;), but I just hit a milestone on Tumblr, so here—have a short celebrity!kakashi and photographer!sakura fic. I may continue this in the future, and if I do, this will be moved from "Oddments" and be made into its own post. Enjoy!

* * *

Sakura fought the urge to hold her breath as she lay in wait for her prey. He was mysterious and elusive, but she knew that today was going to be her day—she was going to catch him.

It had taken her a long time, and a lot of piled-up debt, to finally accept the notion of becoming a paparazzo. She hadn't yet given up on her dream to become a photojournalist for the esteemed _Konoha Geographic_ magazine, but she wasn't there yet, and bills had to be paid. And no job would pay more than getting a picture of the face of the biggest star on the planet—Hatake Kakashi.

He was the breakout star of _The Masked Bandit_ , a post-apocalyptic Neo-Western franchise that had spawned more fans than that series about the sparkly vampires. In the film, Hatake wore a mask that covered the lower half of his face—and thus far, he had been masked for all of his public appearances, too. Most people theorized that this was just a publicity stunt, but his most obsessed fans pointed to his extremely private life and guessed that the mask was some kind of comfort for a presumably tortured, vulnerable man.

Sakura didn't care why he wore it. Sakura had student loan debt to worry about.

And if she had it her way, she'd be paying off a large chunk of that debt very soon. The set of _The Masked Bandit_ was heavily guarded and marked with 'NO CAMERAS' signs, but her friend Ino was working as an assistant makeup artist on the movie, and she'd managed to get Sakura in—after Sakura had reminded her that she owed her for all the times Sakura had taken care of her drunk ass after a party in college. Being Party Mom was finally going to pay off.

As the door of the trailer in front of her opened—the trailer with the big star marked "HATAKE KAKASHI"—Sakura held her breath. She was hiding by a dumpster a good twenty yards to the side of the door, and thus could only see the person walking through the door from the side. The messy head of silver hair was the first thing she saw, followed by broad shoulders and a well-defined back that somehow managed to distinguish itself despite the dust-covered button-down shirt adorning it. It was him! She could see, even from this backward angle, that his trademark mask was down and bunched around his neck. Sakura bit her lip. _Turn around_ , she urged in her head. _Turn around, damn it!_

As if he could hear her thoughts, Hatake turned, and those famous grey eyes, one bisected by a dashing scar, met hers. Sakura's jaw dropped. He was gorgeous—chiseled cheekbones, a full, sensuous mouth, even a little off-center beauty mark beneath his lower lip. He looked at her agog expression and smiled, and Sakura would be damned if that smile didn't make him even more handsome. She gaped at him for what felt like forever, but was probably only about ten seconds, and then, snapping back to reality, she raised her camera and took the shot.

"I'm impressed," he said in that low, smooth voice that fangirls swooned over. He lazily stepped down to the ground and ambled toward her in comfortable slouch. Stopping before her, he tilted his head to the side, still smiling pleasantly as he regarded her. "You're the first paparazzo to get this far."

"I'm very determined," Sakura said, trying to fight the daze that the mere proximity to his dazzling features threatened to cause. She was beginning to understand what all the fangirls were screaming about.

"Mm," he hummed thoughtfully. "That kind of determination deserves a reward." Lifting a hand, he put a finger under her chin, tilting it up as he leaned down toward her.

What the hell was happening? Sakura leaned back slightly, but the animal part of her brain that really wanted to kiss the hottest guy she'd ever seen made her stop.

Right before his lips touched hers, she felt his finger leave her chin as he dropped his hand and plucked the camera out of her hands. Leaning back slightly, he beamed and her and quietly said, "Yoink!"

And then, with what was distinctly a giggle, he spun on his heel and bolted in the other direction.

Sakura's jaw dropped for the second time that morning as she watched his quickly retreating form. The price tag that had been affixed to her camera flashed through her mind, and she shouted, "Wait!" and began to run after him.

He was fast. As Sakura raced after him, she attempted to weave around obstacles as well as he did, but everything he effortlessly bypassed just seemed to get in her way. He spun around a group of production assistants; she ran into one and got splattered with coffee. He leapt over a taped-down bundle of cables; she tripped over it and got scolded by a tech. Then there was Kakashi's brooding, spiky-haired costar, who just said "Hn" when Sakura just barely managed to avoid colliding with him as he left his trailer. "Sorry!" Sakura called over her shoulder in each instance, doggedly pursuing her prey—her prey that had turned out to be much wilier than she'd expected.

He disappeared around a cluster of tents, and Sakura put on a renewed burst of speed, feeling the burning in her thighs and calves. As she turned the corner, she had to screech to a stop to avoid running into him. He stood there, camera in hand, fiddling with the buttons as he clearly attempted to delete the picture. Some distant part of her mind noticed that he'd pulled the mask back up—and the bastard wasn't even breathing hard. Meanwhile, she was out of breath and sweating, and the front of her shirt was splashed with someone's latte.

"No!" Sakura yelped as she dived for the camera, but he effortlessly held it over her head. "Don't delete it!"

"Too late," he said in that same pleasant, unbothered voice, continuing to scroll through her pictures as he held the camera above her with both hands. "You've got some pretty good stuff in here—you're not really a paparazzo, are you?"

"Please don't delete them, those are for my _Konoha Geographic_ application!" Sakura said as she pulled at his shirt and then gripped his shoulders, scrabbling up his lanky form in an attempt to regain her camera.

She'd just managed to link a finger in the camera's dangling strap when he looked back down, his eyes catching hers, and she became suddenly aware of how awkward her position was. One of her arms was curled around his neck, the other flailing in the air, her right leg hooked around his hips as her left foot dangled inches above the ground. Their faces were perfectly level with each other, and as Sakura blinked at him, his eyes creased in a smile as he said, "Well, hello."

Sakura flushed and loosened her grip on him, sliding down his body until her feet hit the ground again. Taking a step back, she scowled at him, hoping her anger would distract from her embarrassment. "You're a real asshole, you know?"

"You're a real expletive on wheels, yourself," he answered breezily, his eyes still smiling.

"Did you really just say 'expletive' instead of 'bitch'?" she spat.

"Hey, I'm the star of a PG-13 franchise, I have to be picky with where I swear." He eyed her closely. "I'm not sure if you're worth it yet."

Ignoring the way he was looking at her, Sakura snatched her camera from him as he finally lowered it and held it out to her. Scrolling through her pictures and verifying that he had, indeed, deleted the picture of him without the mask, she mournfully muttered, "So much for being a paparazzo."

"You should stick with applying to _Konoha Geographic_ , anyway," he commented. "You're much better with nature photography that you are with pap photos."

"Who asked you?" she demanded waspishly. "Besides, that picture would have wiped out my student loan payments for the next six months!"

An amplified voice called for everyone to return to set, but he lingered for a moment. "What's your name?"

"Sakura," she answered distractedly, still pouting at her camera, but her attention returned to him as he removed a smartphone from his pocket and unlocked it.

"Here, give me your number," he said, handing it to her. "If you're not busy tonight, I'll let you give me your most convincing argument as to why I should let you photograph me without the mask. Maybe you'll get lucky."

Sakura's eyes narrowed slightly, unsure if the innocent look he gave her was sincere or if he'd meant the double entendre on purpose. His offer to let her convince him sounded sincere enough, though, so she allowed a small flower of hope to bloom in her chest. "Really?"

"Really," he said, his eyes more serious now.

Sakura frowned slightly for a second, but a second call for the actors to return to set spurred her into motion, and she impulsively took the phone from him and keyed in her number. Handing the phone back to him, she added, "I'm not busy tonight."

"Great," he said, backing away from her and toward the set. "Wear something nice. I feel like going dancing." His eyes creased in another smile as he turned, saying over his shoulder, "Nice to meet you, Sakura."

"Dancing?" Sakura echoed weakly, but he was already jogging in the other direction. Staring off after him, Sakura only barely managed to keep from gaping again. What the hell had just happened? Blinking, she realized something—she needed to go shopping, if her wallet could take it.

Apparently, she had a date with an action star to prepare for.


End file.
